Before the Chicago Bulls, the Toronto Raptors, and even Nike Basketball, Marc Eversley’s first sports love was hockey. Moving to Toronto with his family from London, England at the age of four, the current General Manager of the Chicago Bulls found his first sports superstars on the ice.

“I grew up a hockey fan,” Eversley said. “My childhood heroes, before basketball, were Darryl Sittler and Börje Salming. It’s Toronto. You grow up and it’s cold outside. You go outside and you play street hockey. That was my first introduction to sport.”

Though hockey was his first love, it didn’t remain his only one for long. Every Sunday Eversley found himself in front of the television, watching whatever NBA game was being broadcast. More often than not, it was the Los Angeles Lakers.

“That was my first touch point with basketball,” he said. “The Lakers. James Worthy, Magic [Johnson]. That was my first [basketball] love. That triggered a lot of this.”

Though Eversley played hockey when he was growing up, he quickly moved on to try other sports, including volleyball, but it was basketball that stuck. Standing tall at 6-foot-8 today, Eversley says it was an obvious choice.

“When you’re the tallest kid and you play sports… '' he said with a laugh.”It was really basketball where I kind of found my confidence. I was a gifted athlete, so to speak. And, you know, I just gravitated towards basketball.”

Eversley’s family moved to Brampton shortly before his teenage years. It was there that his basketball dreams began taking shape.

Playing for Steve Pettit at Cardinal Leger Secondary School in Brampton was where he truly fell in love with the game. Though it has many years since his days at the school, he remains in touch with his former teammates, who he still says are still some of his best friends today.

“That was like 30 plus years ago and I'm still friends with all of those guys today,” Eversley said. “I love them all dearly and they're still a big part of my life.”

When Eversley was hired by the Bulls, making him the first Canadian-trained basketball mind to be named a General Manager in the NBA, Pettit immediately texted his congratulations.

After high school, Eversley left Canada on a basketball scholarship in the United States. Though he was a solid basketball talent, he says he quickly shifted his focus to graduating with a marketing degree.

“There were two paths in my junior year in college,” he said. “I was like, ‘How good are you at basketball and what kind of student do you want to be?’ I literally had this conversation with myself. Having like some self-introspection, I was like, ‘You know, you're good, but you’re not that good. You've got to figure out how to get a degree and perhaps leverage both of these things as you kind of move into the next phase of your life.’”

After graduating, Eversley had a wish list of companies he’d like to work with At the top of the list was Nike. Heading into the Fall after his first year out of school, Eversley had returned to Brampton. It was there that he noticed an ad “in the classifieds, back in the day” for positions at the first Nike Factory outlet store that would be opening in Ontario.

“I applied, sent in my resume and you know, a month later, I was hired to work in Cookstown, Ontario and I had no idea where Cookstown, Ontario was,” Eversley said. “I just knew it was Nike and I wanted to be part of it and see how far I can grow within the organization.”

Eleven years later, Eversley had carved out a career at Nike that saw him serving as sports marketing manager for all basketball properties in Canada. Part of that role meant working with Canadian athletes in the NBA, as well as those with Canada Basketball.

“I was really starting to dive into what basketball was in Canada and what that meant,” he said. “For me, that meant getting my face out there and getting the brand out there. I did that through relationships, and I really made it a point to try and get to know who the players were at each of those levels, whether that was Glen Grunwald, who was running the Raptors at the time, or Stu Jackson, who was running the Vancouver Grizzlies at the time, those are the people who I made a point to get in front of and let them know who I was and who I worked for and why.”

Eversley began working closely with Canada’s best athletes, including Steve Nash and Rowan Barrett with Team Canada, as well as Vince Carter and Alvin Williams with the Raptors. He references the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where the Canadian men finished 7th as one of those moments where he knew the basketball world was where he was meant to be.

“I was so fortunate to be there,” he said. “They made a deep run at the Olympics, and they almost medalled. That was a proud moment because, one, I was Canadian. But another [because] I'm here because of basketball. Basketball has brought me this far.”

Eversley made the jump from marketing pro to NBA front office when then-Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo hired him as Director of Basketball Operations. Eversley spent seven years with the Raptors, moving up to Vice President of Scouting and Assistant General Manager before leaving to work with the Washington Wizards in 2013. From there he spent time with the Philadelphia 76ers before being announced as Chicago’s General Manager back in May 2020.

He had a busy offseason this past summer, bringing All-Star DeMar DeRozan to Chicago to pair with Bulls All-Star Zach LaVine. It was a reunion of sorts for DeRozan and Eversley, who was with the Raptors when the team drafted DeRozan ninth overall in the 2009 NBA Draft. The Bulls also brought in guards Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball over the offseason, after trading for big man Nikola Vucevic at the 2020 NBA Trade Deadline. There were doubters to start the season, wondering how the group would mesh. Through 50 games, the Bulls have quieted them all, standing atop the Eastern Conference standings with a 32-18 record.

“We felt like it would work,” Eversley said.

One person who isn’t surprised at Eversley’s early success with the Bulls is Wayne Embry, Senior Basketball Advisor to the Toronto Raptors. What stood out to Embry from their time together in Toronto was the confidence that Eversley had in his opinions even early on in his career.

“Marc was always willing to learn,” Embry said. “His background is pretty neat, being with Nike all those years, being around Canada Basketball, and I just thought he had a great future. We‘d get into debates about players and he stood firm on what he believed. He was going to make his decisions based on what his opinions were and I was impressed with that. A lot of young guys will try to please rather than disagree. They should stand up and say I disagree, that’s my opinion and live with it. And he was able to do that.

“He commands respect,” Embry continued. “And he respects other people and I think that’s really important in this industry. We’re in the people business.”

Eversley considers Embry to be a mentor and he is thankful that their paths crossed during his time in Toronto. As the first Black General Manager of the Bulls, Eversley points to Embry who became the first Black General Manager in pro sports history when he became General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks in 1972.

“From Mr. Wayne Embry, speaking of firsts, he has also been a first,” Eversley said. “From him I learned being comfortable in my own skin and to be rooted and believe in what I believe in. To make sure I'm confident every single time I’m standing in front of a group, no matter what it is you're doing, if you're selecting a player and you're putting together a team, you know, he’s seen more doubters than all of us combined, and he was able to get to where he was. And he’s always put the belief in me that I can get anywhere I want to get if I put in the work. For him, I am so deeply, deeply thankful.”

Eversley is aware of the significance of the position he is in today, but he also stresses that he wants to help others to accomplish their dreams to be in a position like his.

“It's humbling,” he said. “It's a dream come true. But for me the goal is to not just be the first, but to continue to share my story and inspire kids to dream because it is possible. I was born in London, England. I grew up in Jane and Finch. I moved to Brampton, and now, I'm in this position and I feel like I owe it to others to continue this thing and not just have the story be about me being the first.”

Embry also remains committed to making the path easier for those following his lead.

“Wouldn’t it be great to be able to just say Marc was named General Manager of the Chicago Bulls?” Embry said. “I said that when I was named General Manager in Milwaukee, 50 years ago this year. When I was named General Manager, I was asked if I felt any significance in being the first and I said I obviously would have to acknowledge that, as Jackie Robinson did in baseball, but it's only significant to me if it’s significant to others and I wish the day would come where there didn’t have to be a designation.”

Embry and his late wife Theresa were honoured this past May by their alma mater, Miami University. The school unveiled a statue at the entrance of the basketball arena capturing Embry in his signature hook shot pose. In addition to the statue, the school announced the Wayne Embry scholarship which will support student athletes. The university also presented Embry and Theresa with the Freedom Summer of ‘64 Award which is bestowed each year upon a distinguished leader who has inspired the nation to advance civil rights and social justice.

This is in addition to the Wayne and Theresa Embry Fellowship program with the Raptors. The program provides two Canadians the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in a professional basketball operations environment.

“I feel good about it because I want to see young people advance in this industry and the people we’ve had thus far have done quite well and it really makes me happy,” Embry said. “I’m happy we’ve added my wife’s name to it because she made a lot of sacrifices along the way. As I’ve said the last several months, accepting an award on behalf of her when she and I received an award at our alma mater, I said, ‘75 percent of this goes to my wife who is no longer with us, she’s the one that was really a trail blazer’ and to add her to the fellowship was just really a great thing to me.”

In addition to Embry, Eversley mentions the close relationships that he has with Raptors President of Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri, former Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo, as well as Lynn Merritt from his time at Nike.

“[Merritt] is really the guy who taught me the value of relationships,” Eversley said. “You know, when I was in Toronto working for the Raptors, I worked for Bryan and I love him to death and I consider him a close friend. He really taught me how to carry myself in all kinds of situations when I was down on the court or in the locker room or in the boardroom with owners like he had done and seen it all… And Masai, I got to work with him in Toronto and we forged a very good relationship and I think he’s the best executive in the world…I consider him a friend. He’s not an executive to me, he’s a friend.”

In addition to his position with the Bulls, Eversley also joined Canada Basketball’s Board of Directors this past June. Getting to watch the growth of the game up close during his time with the Raptors has been special, even as he now watches from stateside.

“It’s been incredible to watch our sport grow to the level that it is today,” Eversley said, reflecting on his early days working with Canada Basketball and the Raptors during his Nike days. “I was fortunate because I was right there in the mix. I was the guy running around trying to equip these guys with Nike shoes. For me, it was really cool to watch it evolve.”

Eversley’s journey has become an inspiration to many cheering him on from home. His own inspiration also starts there.'“I’m obviously inspired by the game, but I’m also inspired by my family,” he said. “My best friends are still my best friends today, who I grew up with in Toronto. And my family. It’s Jen, who is my partner and my wife, and we’ve got two little girls.”

Eversley shares that his eldest has started playing basketball herself, while his five-year-old “is in love with [Bulls mascot] Benny the Bull.” He says they are beginning to love and understand the game they’re growing up around. Eversley’s joy is audible when speaking about his family.

“They inspire me,” he said. “That’s why I get up in the morning and why I work as hard as I work, to put smiles on their faces.”